A jumble of pictures

My little service partner Jasmin is under there.  You can just see her fingers hanging on to her mom's hand. I have the privilege of studying with her mom who is an unbaptized publisher.

You pay extra for that seat in the back of the taxi!!

We enjoyed a great weekend with some other needgreater couples at the beach back in February. This was the view from the hammock at the house we rented. Super relaxing!

I finally got a good shot of Nicaragua's national bird. Guardabarranco, or in English MotMot I think they call it! Notice it's unusal tail. On the other side those feathers are bright blue. There are a few that frequent the trees around our house.

Charley trying to make our car look like a hatchback "Nica-style"!!!

Thanks to modern technology we were able to watch our nephews get baptized live from the State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis! They are 10 and 13 years old and wonderful boys. They both auxiliary pioneered with their mom that very month! She does a great job!

This was a busy Sunday picking up our dear friends (top left pic) from the airport at 1am. Then going to meeting with them at 9am. Then going to a wedding in the afternoon, then staying at that hall after the ceremony so that Charley could give the public talk at the meeting! Then we said goodbye to our CO and his wife who were reassigned back to El Salvador after only 18 months with us. And then we went to the reception of the wedding from earlier and I captured this great shot of them!!

We're back in the kitchen for CO's school at the educational center. We work Friday's now so we get to help on the lovely lunch they always do for them on the last Friday of class. The dining room gets all decorated nice for the occasion and the CO's and their wives are always taking tons of pictures of it all! We cherish our undeserved privilege of working together in this assignment. It's very rewarding work.

Just a random picture of me at assembly!

With visitors came the excuse to finally sit in the long line to get in to the volcano at night. Such an awe-inspiring sight! You can't help but reflect on Jehovah's power as you look down at the bubbling molten lava!

We have a new member of our congregation, Ashley Diana, and I made my very first diaper cake which I thought turned out pretty well. Nobody had ever seen one here so it was quite the hit!

Charley and I at our circuit assembly in March.

One of the four baptized from our congregation at this past assembly. 3 of the 4 auxiliar pioneered in April!

Isn't Obed the cutest?!

With our new CO and his wife who just arrived in time for the circuit assembly. Enjoyed pizza with them afterwards and getting to know them a bit. Straight away we could tell we're going to really enjoy having them!

Another one of those baptized at our assembly, with his family. His mom was just announced as a regular pioneer too so that was exciting! He auxiliary pioneered in April too and is being used at the meetings on microphones. 

Making sure we could all hear the assembly!

The couple in the middle got married. Brenda (in yellow) used to study with her, and when she moved she handed the study over to me. So nice to see her taking steps to make spiritual progress.

Mildred showing a video in service! She acts like she's shy but once she gets going she wants to do it all and won't let you talk or hold the phone or anything!! Her mom and sister are the ones in the first picture on this post.

We had to do a border run to get our visa renewed. We managed to travel there on a fancy bus with AC. Ironically it was the same price as the horrid old school bus that was so packed we had to stand for the whole two hour trip home! We got a flat tire on the way there but an equally nice bus soon had us on our way. We managed to cross and get back with no problems, although they did tell us we have to figure out how to get residency. Easier said than done!

Preparing the hall for Memorial

Rented chairs inside, and the Kingdom Hall chairs outside. Ready to go!

Helping at an ongoing construction project here in Masaya. Pacayita is getting their very own Kingdom Hall. Very exciting!

We found this, what we finally decided was a baby possum, outside the house. We tried to save it but it only lasted a couple of days. It was cute in an ugly sort of way!

Just an idea of daily life here. This is rush hour. You do whatevr you can do to get home! Notice there are two pairs of legs there!

Chocolate cake in a mug made in the microwave! My first attempt and surprisingly delicious and easy!

Another busy day in the educational center kitchen. Charley is making cinnamon rolls which I must say turned out to be "melt-in-your-mouth" delicious!

Working on a project of putting shelves in the bathroom where at one time there was going to be a door or something! Hopefully by this weekend we'll get it all done. We made some considerable progress yesterday! Pictures will be in another post.

Like I said in the title of this post - a jumble of pictures! Back to Memorial in this picture.

Charley had the privilege of giving the Memorial talk. Thankfully he didn't get sick this year and end up missing out on giving it!  Click here to read about last year's Memorial!

The outdoor crowd watching the talk on the wall!

Masaya is getting a fancy little mall complete with movie theater! Never expected to see that!

Memorial campaign - we had excellent support

And last, but certainly not least, a family in our congregation heading home from field service. Whoever said a motorcycle wasn't an excellent means of transportation for a family of five?!

So, that's it from me for now. We also had a lovely meeting from Mexico during the Headquarters Representative visit to the Central America branch. Wonderful experiences and a couple of videos with some familiar faces in! Very encouraging to hear of all the work going on in the Central America region.

This month is a relatively calm one as is June, at least as far as we know! Then it all starts in July. We have pioneer meeting and circuit assembly towards the end of July. Then Charley has the privilege of being an instructor in one of the two pioneer school classes that will be held here in Masaya in August. We're also looking forward to going to the English Regional Convention just down the road at the assembly hall in August. And then September we have our Spanish Regional Convention and Charley has Elder's School.  So, before we know it we'll be in Indiana briefly in October and then off to NY with my parents for a visit to the new World Headquarters!!!

Hope you're all doing well and enjoyed this albeit jumbled and mostly photographic update!

Out of the mouth of babes

I'm going to take a moment to brag about my amazing nephew and his awesome mom too.

Asa is 10 and these are his Bible students! His mom, Charley's sister, was taking magazines to the husband and decided to let Asa take over since the man's wife never really joined in their conversations. Next thing she knows, Asa is offering them a study which they both accepted!

My sister-in-law told me: "They are very religious and I think they only started studying because it's him. My favorite story to tell is how the wife one time said Jehovah...I mean God, and then awhile later said our God Jehovah."

They absolutely adore Asa (it's hard not to!). So proud of this little guy and the great job Hannah is doing. Her 13-year old also conducts a study with an adult. Beautiful thing to see Jehovah using willing young ones.

Catching up

I have once again terribly neglected the blog. This will basically be a summary of Instagram posts over the last few months with a few extra details in the stories. It will also probably be a bit jumbled as far as the timing goes! I'll probably post another set of photographs later since it seems I have some on the computer and others on my phone. 

We traveled to Indianapolis in November to work for a couple of months. This was in the Fort Lauderdale airport. So nice to see the friends wherever we go! It brightened up what was a looooong layover in the airport!

Quick coffee and muffins before heading out into the cold for field service in Bloomington, Indiana with Charley's family

With the Matthews after the meeting. The boys are growing up so fast!

Hadn't seen frost in a long time! Our first weekend in Indiana was chilly but not too terribly cold. 

Loved seeing the snow fall downtown. The novelty wore off as soon as I had to go outside though! We've decided we definitely won't be going back to Indiana in Winter unless we absolutely have to for some reason! This was our first December in Indiana for five years and we'd forgotten how challenging it can be!

We both got new glasses and by complete coincidence chose matching frames!!

We got to enjoy field service (and breaks!) with old friends from the Spanish and English congregations

A couple of weeks after getting back to Nicaragua we had our first break-in experience. We came home from service at midday to discover our gate lying down and the back door open. The police got some good fingerprints, but as far as we know nothing has resulted from that. We don't expect to get anything back of what was stolen but it was a good reminder of why it's best not to be too attached to material things. The worst of it all really is the peace of mind they steal, that's harder to get back. But that weekend we went to the English circuit assembly and felt very comforted by a talk that specifically mentioned how as foreigners we're often the target of thieves and that we continue to have faith in Jehovah as our shield. That assembly day was like a big hug from Jehovah in the language of our hearts. Very encouraging indeed.

This is Charley's new wedding ring! His ring didn't want to fit the morning we got robbed, and so it was in the house and they stole it. It wasn't an item we would have bothered replacing, at least not any time soon. Well, the next week, a little girl in our congregation gave me a little pink box with a necklace in that she'd made for me, and the ring you see in the picture! For some reason she had this ring, and she decided to give it to us, and it fit Charley perfectly! Amazing to see how Jehovah can use a 7-year old to comfort us when we've had a difficult experience!

On a study last week. It was so heart-warming to hear this sister's student talk about how she's trying to use the name Jehovah more often now. She really appreciated understanding more about his name, it's meaning, and the importance of it. She sells clothes so we sit on the high curb to have her study. This picture also captures two popular modes of transport here in Masaya. Motorbikes and horses! You have to look closely but you'll see the horses and carriage in the background!

Field service scene from circuit visit week. This sister and her husband were also visiting us from the States to "spy out the land". We had a really fun week with the substitute CO and his wife, and this couple that were visiting too. Such fine examples of couples who have made wise decisions and always put Jehovah first in their lives.

Finally got public witnessing worked back into our schedule. We did an afternoon shift in Masaya's Central Park. It was so nice to have this aspect of the ministry back into our weekly routine. 

And some random guy decided to draw Charley!!!!!!

So, those are some random pictures from recent months. We had an enjoyable but hectic trip back to the States. I worked at my old job full-time Monday to Friday and Charley worked mostly Saturday-Tuesday at his old job, so we didn't seem to have much time together, or to spend with others. We didn't get to see as many people this time, but we thoroughly enjoyed the time we did get to spend with family and friends. The cold weather also made it harder to want to go do anything! I just wanted to be wrapped up and warm in the house all the time!!

It's always so good to be back though. Although we've had the awful experience of being robbed, and we've lost time and money getting some repairs done from the damage they did, but we don't let that take away our joy. Being out in the ministry, seeing students making progress, and spending time with the friends more than makes up for it all.

We have a busy time coming up as does everyone worldwide. Some dear friends are coming to visit in March so we're very excited about that. And we also have our circuit assembly. CO school started back up so we're back in the kitchen at the Educational Center, but on Fridays now with a different crew. We just had a sub-CO since our CO is in this month's class. And when their class finishes they're off to a new assignment and we're getting another new CO. We can't seem to keep our CO's for very long around here for some reason!! And of course before we know it we'll be in Memorial season which is always a busy time for Jehovah's people worldwide. 

So, lots going on and lots to look forward to. We're trying to tighten our belts a little this year so that we don't have to go back and work until Summer (not Winter!) 2018. It's been amazing to see how Jehovah always provides though. How those unexpected expenses always seem to be somehow covered! And even sometimes there's a little left for some of those little "wants" in life that Jehovah so lovingly provides as an occasional treat!

Thank you to all of you who made our trip to Indy a success, and who continue to support us in many different ways. Your friendship and kind words and deeds mean so much to us.

I leave you with a couple of my favorite quotes from the English Circuit Assembly:

"You have to faith it, to make it"

"Faith doesn't make it easy, it makes it possible"

"Faith is like taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase"

Prayer after prayer

I just posted this on Instagram as a video of photos with the Kingdom song "Teach Them To Stand Firm" playing in the background, but here it is in photo collage format for those of you who don't follow me on Instagram.

In December 2013 I prayed for studies. Within a week he let me meet Sonia. In 2015 I prayed that Jehovah let me stay in that congregation at least until she was baptized. Less than a month after her baptism in April 2016 we were asked to move to another congregation. Last week we finished the second book. What a joy it's been to see her progress and even auxiliary pioneer. I know Jehovah will continue to answer my prayers to help her remain faithful forever.

Back by popular demand - haha!

I was surprised to discover recently that a handful of people out there actually miss my blog, so here goes a post!

First a summary of the last few months, then a couple of stories of things that just happened this week that I feel the need to share!

• So, we had a fantastic circuit pioneer meeting and circuit assembly with a fantastic visiting speaker from Mexico Bethel. Charley had the privilege of conducting the Watchtower study at that assembly and we had a blast doing rehearsals and then playing a small part in the program. We had a sweet young sister from our congregation baptized too, the first in her family (her brother is a publisher and her dad just qualified a couple of weeks ago!). 
• Charley had the amazing, unexpected privilege of conducting Pioneer Service School alongside our CO. He hadn't been to the school yet in the new book, so that made for some pretty intense preparation! Jehovah willing he'll be able to go as a student in 2018! I really enjoyed being the wife and getting to go daily for lunch and baking goodies for the class each day! 
• We made a quick run to Costa Rica to renew our visa and got to spend time with new friends with a fantastic view from their house and the sweetest dog ever! 
• We also made some new friends that were here spying out the land for a month. 
• Three classes of CO school came and went and we had a blast in the kitchen as usual! Now we're back to other projects, mostly cleaning, until SKE classes start again next Spring maybe. Really miss working in the kitchen, but it's all sacred service so we're enjoying it all!
• Then last month we finally had our Regional Convention. WOW! That's all I can say. WOW! One of our young ones in our congregation got baptized and two older sisters from our previous congregation. 
• We also briefly had some awesome new friends from Lithuania visiting us. 
• We've had two new publishers in our congregation in the last month and another student just got married so she's now a step closer to becoming a publisher too. 
• Three of my studies finished the Bible Teach book and have started, or are about to, in the second book. One of them is already a publisher and had her first assignment on the meeting, the first conversation. I got to be her householder and she did an awesome job! 
• Oh, and we've been to construction a couple of times in Managua helping with a new Kingdom Hall there. 
• And we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary last Sunday. How time flies!
• Oh, and we bought a car!!! BEST decision!! Rainy season has been so much less stressful for me this year. Rain and motorbike is just not fun to me! And the story of how we ended up finding the car is a good one, perhaps I'll remember to tell it one day!

That was basically a summary of all of my Instagram posts over the last few months but without the pictures!!

Now for a couple of specific stories.

Last week's Watchtower about progressing spiritually left me with a lot to meditate on and a long list of things to work on! One of those things was improving in my public preaching skills, approaching people in public places and trying to start conversations. It's just not my strong point to be honest. So I decided I'd like to start dedicating an hour a week in this aspect of the ministry. We have the wonderful advantage of having Masaya's Central Park in our territory (hence the congregation name, El Parque). Perfect place for public preaching. So, as it worked out, I ended up by myself Wednesday morning because we had an odd number out and I had two studies, so it was easier for me to go alone. Well, neither of my studies could study, so I went and did a couple of nearby calls, and then planned to meet back up with the group to go door to door with them. Then, I remembered my new goal of spending an hour in the park once a week. So, off I went. 

As I entered the park I prayed for courage to talk to someone and wisdom to know what to say to strike up a conversation. I walked around a little but ended up back with the first lady I saw since everyone else seemed to be talking to someone already or had headphones in. So, I sat next to this lady in her early 30's and smiled. I drank some water from my bottle. Got my phone out and pretended to look at something. Then I commented on the weather, how nice it felt since it was cloudy and cooler. She responded and straight away I could tell she'd be inclined to continue chatting. Then I asked about how to sign in to the wifi. And then I honestly don't quite remember how the conversation moved on to spiritual things, but we ended up talking for about 45 minutes! I read a few scriptures, showed her a video, gave her a meeting invitation. 

She works in a factory, so she's never at home probably when the witnesses go by. She just happened to be off work on sick leave for two weeks and had been to a doctor's appointment. For some reason she said instead of going straight home she decided to stop in the park and use the free wifi there. She has the YPA book that she got from a public witnessing cart at the hospital one day. She studies it with her 10 and 17 year old kids and she told me what part of the book they're up to! So I showed her the sections for young ones and children on the website and we watched a Whiteboard Animation. Then towards the end of the conversation she told me how she lost her mom suddenly 4 months ago and how hard that has been. She asks herself where she is and if she'll ever see her again. So I asked how we could continue the conversation so that we could see the Bible's comforting answers to those questions. She gave me her phone number (she doesn't live in our territory) and she said she might come to the meeting. Despite having a sister in Costa Rica who is a witness, she's never actually been to the Kingdom Hall before, so we'll see. I sent her a text message today with a couple of scriptures to look up about the condition of the dead. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out. I went back to meet Charley just walking on the clouds after that!! It was such a wonderful conversation. She said that God provides comfort in the most unexpected ways sometimes!

So, I was reminded once again of how Jehovah blesses our efforts when we step outside of our comfort zone and try new things! And also how the angels are so obviously involved in directing us in the ministry, and they can use us if we allow ourselves to be gently pushed in new directions! I hope to make my hour in the park a weekly thing and improve my skills in that form of the ministry.

My other story is about work. We're getting ready for a trip back to the States to work for two months. I already got confirmation a couple of months back that my old job would happily take me on full-time again this year!! YAY!!! That's been such a blessing - having work lined up to go back to in familiar surroundings!

Charley works for Pepsi and continues to be an employee this whole 4+ years we've been down here. He just shows up every 18 months or so for work!! But he texted a couple of the people he worked under last time and got no reply. So this week he sent a few emails and got at least one bounce-back and one auto reply. Well, this morning he said, "I wonder if I should start looking for something else". Literally the second the words were out of his mouth, his phone made a noise, he looked, and he had an email from someone at Pepsi! It wasn't anyone he knows, but they said "Yes, we have work, let us know your availability".

Jehovah once again shows us how he'll always take care of us. So glad to find that Charley will be going back to work again, as he has done each time we've gone back to work! Such undeserved kindness from Jehovah that helps us continue in this ministry that we just love so much. 

Well, that takes me right up to bed time, so I'll sign off now. 

I leave you with some pictures:

Lots of hard, physical labor at Kingdom Hall construction. No back-hoe in sight!

Lovely dinner out for our 12th wedding anniversary

Carpentry shop at educational center all nice and clean after a hard day's work.
It's a panoramic, and Charley moved, therefore the 5 heads!

Had some more of the friends from our new congregation over

Two new publishers on their first weekend out in service.
(Young girl in white shirt and brother in black shirt)

Awesome new friends from Lithuania at our house

Cleaning the cooler at the educational center - practicing for December in Indiana!

The amazing view from our friends house in Costa Rica

Charley conducting Pioneer Service School

And a very rare selfie taken in the kitchen during CO school!